King of the Blind Piggers

In the early 20th century, few characters in Mendocino were as notorious or as colorful as Michael Dennis “Big Mike” Nolan. An Irish immigrant with a booming voice and a larger-than-life presence, Nolan was both a hard-working drayman and an infamous bootlegger who thumbed his nose at local prohibition laws long before national Prohibition began.

Born in Ireland around 1879, Nolan immigrated to the United States in 1892 and soon made his way to the Mendocino Coast. By 1897, he was already making headlines, appearing in court to foreclose on a $3,000 debt. The following year, he became a naturalized citizen. In 1899, he was arrested for setting fire to the Mansion House Hotel on Lansing Street. Though the charges were ultimately dropped, Nolan sued the Justice of the Peace over the arrest. He lost, but he cemented his reputation as someone unafraid to challenge authority.

Initially, Nolan’s business dealings were legitimate. By the early 1900s, he had established himself as a successful drayman, owning teams of horses and wagons that hauled freight and goods across the rugged coastal terrain. But as prohibitionist sentiment took hold on the Mendocino Coast, Nolan turned to a far more profitable line of work: bootlegging.

Following Mendocino’s 1909 vote to go “dry,” Nolan became one of the town’s most audacious purveyors of illegal alcohol. He set up shop in his barn on Little Lake Street, where he brewed beer in a secret room in the hayloft. In addition to his home brew, he sold wine and hard liquor, which he smuggled in from nearby Fort Bragg, where alcohol was still legal.

At the time, an illegal drinking establishment was known as a “blind pig,” named after a supposed loophole where customers paid to see an attraction, such as a blind pig, and were then served alcohol for no charge, thus skirting liquor laws. Nolan became one of the boldest operators in town. Starting in late 1910, he faced a string of raids and arrests for selling liquor without a license. Sometimes he escaped conviction on technicalities; other times, he was fined or jailed. In 1913, after a highly publicized crackdown, he was sentenced to six months in jail and swore in writing to give up the liquor trade. That promise didn’t last long.

For the next three years, Nolan remained in near-constant conflict with law enforcement. He was caught selling to minors, his barn was raided again and again, and the Mendocino Beacon crowned him the “King of the Blind Piggers.” In one memorable incident, the sheriff dumped barrels of his confiscated beer over the bluff.

Nolan was shrewd. When the courts came after his assets, he put his business in his sister Mary Lazarus’s name. He used decoy wagons to hide shipments and routed his deliveries through Fort Bragg to avoid confiscation. But eventually, the law caught up with him.

In 1916, facing six new indictments, he sold his draying business and announced plans to join Mary in Sausalito. Before he could leave, he was arrested again, convicted on two counts, sentenced to 13 months in jail, and fined $1,000.

In 1917, Nolan finally resettled in Sausalito, where he ran a grocery store. When he died in 1937, he left an estate worth $75,000 – a small fortune during the Great Depression. From hardworking hauler to bold bootlegger to successful merchant, Big Mike Nolan’s life was a uniquely Mendocino blend of grit, mischief, and unapologetic defiance.

Celebrate Oktoberfest with a live homebrewing demo and beer tastings from Foggy Coast Brewers and North Coast Brewing Company. See how brewers turn grain into your favorite craft brew, pick up expert tips, and sip beer while taking in the stunning Mendocino Bay view from the Kelley House Museum lawn. Grab your ticket and raise a glass to the art of homebrewing! Saturday, September 13, 12 PM – 4 PM